Visualising a bacterial stress response: gene product localisations movements and gene regulation at single molecule level in live bacterial cells

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Bacteria comprise one of the most abundant life forms on the planet, and contribute hugely to, for example, the major carbon, nitrogen, sulphur and phosporus cycles and transformations that characterise a functional and healthy global living environment. Despite huge advances in understanding how the components of the bacterial cell work, little is known about how they are organised within the living cell, nor how such organisations impact upon the functionality of the cell. Using a method that enables us to visualise single molecules within living cells, we will look in a quantitative way at the dynamics of the cellular components that let the cell survive a stress that damages its membrane. In effect we will be studying the cell in action, and will be able to describe the cell in its pre-stressed state as well as in its adapted state. Gaining an appreciation and understanding of how the cells components are organised for function is important in establishing principles of signaling and the networks of interactions that allow cells to grow and adapt to new environments.